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Neuqua Valley feeling better after win over Wheaton Academy

Neuqua Valley led Wheaton Academy by 16 points with just over two minutes to play in the 54th East Aurora Boys Holiday Tournament championship game.

Over? Hardly.

"It was tense, very tense," said Neuqua coach Todd Sutton.

Lacking three starters including ill top scorer John Poulakidas, Neuqua weathered a push by Wheaton Academy and in a gutty team victory dethroned the defending champ 58-52 on Saturday.

"We didn't have guys here today and we just knew that we needed to step up and play defense and execute on offense," said Wildcats forward Mark Gronowski, whose 13 points joined guard Donovan Navarro for team honors. Tournament MVP Marcus Bult scored 15 for the Warriors.

"We missed John, and he's a big scorer in our offense, so we had to have other guys step up," Gronowski said.

Every Neuqua player scored and otherwise contributed from Erik Roche, Poulakidas' replacement the past two games, to Tyler Freeburger, who took a charge and got a crack on the head for it.

When Roche left with a twisted knee to start the fourth quarter ballhandling duties fell to others like Navarro, 11-point scorer Connor Davis, Patrick Hoffmann, Tariq Asim and Nick Porter. Wildcats point guard Max Rivera also was out sick; forward Nonso Obguefi was on vacation.

"Just the next-man-up concept was fantastic," Sutton said. "We'll just say defense wins championships."

Wheaton Academy's Tobi Sonuga and Bryson Mitchell dug into Neuqua's 30-18 halftime lead, but through three quarters Neuqua (10-4) forced 30 percent shooting.

Neuqua led 52-36 with 2:07 left in the fourth quarter when Wheaton Academy (9-5) turned it on, starting with a Bult 3 and Jack Oswald's steal and lay-in.

A 12-2 run led by Bult and a Sonuga 3 cut Neuqua's lead to 54-48 until Porter's three free throws stopped the flow. Two Oswald baskets again pared Neuqua's lead to 57-52 with 22 seconds to play.

A missed 3 and a Gronowski free throw with 8.2 seconds left had the Wildcats hoisting the big trophy.

"I think we had a long week," Bult said. "Four games in six days is a lot. The first three of them we had were down to the wire, so at this point we kind of ran out of gas, I think."

Last season Wheaton Academy beat Neuqua Valley 72-56 in the first round at East Aurora.

"We knew we wanted to get this one back, especially in a championship game to win the whole tournament. It meant a lot to us," Hoffmann said.

Downers Grove North (8-5) took third place at East Aurora in a title 62-59 win over Plainfield Central. Kyle Engstler's 26 points led all scorers and Nate Demos scored 17, including two clinching free throws with 2.9 seconds left.

East Aurora (8-6) edged Metea Valley 48-46 in the fifth-place game despite 18 points by all-tournament selection Tahj Morgan of Metea (4-9). Joliet Catholic beat Aurora Central Catholic 72-54 in the seventh-place game.

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